Frequent Lightning Strikes Jolt Disney Into Action

GOLF STUFF

June 10, 1994|By George White of The Sentinel Staff

The numbers are irrefutable, courtesy of the Lightning Protection Institute. If you live in Central Florida, golf is a dangerous exercise.

There are more lightning strikes per year here than any other region of the United States. The Pacific Coast of the U.S. averages five lightning days per year. Your friends living in Phoenix will see lightning about 30 days per year. In West Palm Beach, that number jumps to 70 days per year. But in the Greater Orlando area, lightning will strike somewhere 100 days per year.

Many of those strikes will hit golf courses. Fortunately, the vast majority of the time the golfers have noticed the threatening weather and headed for one of the masonry shelters that have been thoughtfully provided. There they will remain out of the rain until the storm passes.

Unfortunately, there won't be much protection from the lightning. They will be safe from a bolt coming straight down, making a direct hit on the structure, if they are far enough away from the open sides. But they will have no protection from a ''side flash,'' nor from current surging along the ground from a nearby strike.

Before 1993, there was no company in the country that was producing lightning-safe golf shelters. Kent Smith, the former pro at Seminole Golf and Country Club in Tallahassee, was stunned to find out from electrical engineers that it would cost as much as $40,000 to put up shelters that would afford true lightning protection. In short order, Golf Shelters U.S.A. was born.

Today, courses are beginning to respond. The Disney resort has purchased one, located between the Oak Trail and Magnolia courses. Doral in Miami has two.

''I read an article that said the typical shelter is nothing more than a place to stay dry,'' said Mike Beaver, Disney's newly appointed director of golf. ''We had an opportunity to get this one, and we're probably going to go for more of them because it's the safest thing out there. In addition, it's considerably cheaper than the shelters we have traditionally put up.''

The shelters, shaped like a quonset hut, are big enough to hold nine carts. Poly-vinyl, industrial-grade fabric is stretched over steel tubing to direct current around the side of the structure. It is embedded into the earth into a steel mesh lacework flooring that conducts the current into the ground. The flooring is maintained under a foot of gravel, sand and earth.

At a cost of approximately $7,000, or leased at $188 a month, the shelter becomes affordable to virtually every course.

''I was really concerned as the pro at Seminole because we had college kids out there who were going to keep playing, regardless of the weather,'' Smith said. ''I knew we had to come up with something different or there was going to be a real tragedy.

''I consulted with a lot of electrical engineers, spent a lot of time talking with lightning experts, and finally came up with this design that offers complete protection. This is a cocoon that is going to make the people inside completely safe.''

Three courses in Tallahassee invested in the shelters, including Seminole. That's important, because Tallahassee averages lightning 80 days per year. That, though, is still 20 days a year less than Orlando.